August 16, 2016: First version of documentAugust 23, 2016: Wording and clarifications, no new or updated downloadsSeptember 6, 2016: Wording and clarifications, no new or updated downloadsOctober 4, 2016: Added Rain to the .bat fileOctober 29, 2016: Added Soulkey to the .bat fileApril 1, 2017: Added Jaedong, Stork, and BackHo to the .bat fileApril 3, 2017: Added ggaemo and HyuN to the .bat fileApril 5, 2017: Added Shine to the .bat fileApril 24, 2017: Added Horang2 to the .bat fileApril 29, 2017: v2.0: Streamlink & .bat launcher updateAugust 18, 2017: v3.0: New launcher and support for Twitch. Added lots of players to the launcherAugust 19, 2017: Added MaNa, LancerX, Bonyth, and Schamtoo to the .bat launcher.September 5, 2017: Minor tweaks to the .bat launcher, added a few players.September 10, 2017: Added the new Afreeca ASL streams to the .bat file (preparing for ASL Season 4).

Welcome back to Brood War.

With the release of Starcraft: Remastered, more people are streaming Starcraft than ever before. In South Korea, most top SC/BW players have a channel from which they stream their practice games every day. The platform of choice for many of these players is the streaming service Afreeca, South Korea's answer to Twitch.tv

Unfortunately, Afreeca occasionally lags for foreigners (depending on the Afreeca server currently assigned to serve users), and the interface is confusing if you can't read Korean. Players frequently use random IDs on Afreeca: Bisu is "rlaxordyd", Last is "rlatjdgus228", Shuttle is "jk890202". These are their stream names even when watching an embedded stream from TeamLiquid, so it quickly becomes confusing.

The most lag-free method of watching streams is using Streamlink. It is a command line utility that connects live streams to a media player (usually VLC). This process is automated using a simple launcher (a Windows .bat file). This launcher features CDN server and stream quality options, and you can view multiple streams at once.

You can watch Afreeca.com and Twitch.tv streams using this method, with more to come.

Files and instructions below are always up to date. Any new .bat files, fixes or updates posted in the comment section are automatically added to this guide. If you are currently performing a first-time install, you do not need to look for file updates in the comment section. Updates posted in the comment section after your first time install may be of use to you, especially if the .bat file was updated to include additional players.

Below guide confirmed working perfectly as of October, 2017.

NOTE: As of writing, Amazon AWS is out of commission. Please use GSCDN for the time being.

NOTE BY AYLEAR:This Linux install is maintained by TeamLiquid user letian. Contact him if you have any problems with the Linux setup.

On July 09 2017 18:22 letian wrote:To all Linux users.

I have dropped my livestreamer fork and switched to streamlink backend.Now, to watch the bw streams via vlc you'll only need a bash script which you can take from here.

As usual, you'll need to replace the afreeca.py (if you still haven't) which is installed with streamlinkwith the one here.

The script can check who's online, set "aws_original", "aws_hd" or "aws_sd" quality of streams. Run multiple vlc stream instances (unless you explicitly forbid it in vlc config) with different players.

On August 23 2016 23:12 letian wrote:Ok, I figured it out for Linux.1. First uninstall with your package manager any previous versions of livestreamer.For archlinux/manjaro: sudo pacman -Rcn livestreamer

Replace the afreeca.py file in this folder with the one you just downloaded (copy and overwrite).

NOTE: Browser do not have permission to directly overwrite files in C:\Program Files or other system folders. You need to download the file to a location on your computer and then manually copy/paste and overwrite.

If you installed VLC to a custom folder, you will have to edit the .bat file and add the path to the set vlcpath= line. Open the .bat file with a text editor (Notepad++ is recommended, although Notepad will do fine) and follow the instructions near the top of the file.

Example: If you installed VLC to D:\VLC, you would need to set the line to

set vlcpath=D:\VLC\vlc.exe

Using the launcher

Once you have installed everything, check the TeamLiquid sidebar to see who is currently streaming. (You can also check https://bwstreams.appspot.com/ which does the same thing and shows more streams.) Run the launcher.

You will be given the choice between Afreeca CDN servers. Amazon AWS may be better if you are in the US, while GSCDN may be better for European viewers. If streams still lag for you, switch CDN servers first before you mess with quality options. The CDN option only affects Afreeca connections.

NOTE: As of writing, Amazon AWS is out of commission. Please use GSCDN for the time being.

When prompted, type in the name (or ID) of a player you want to watch, then select the desired stream quality. After a few moments, VLC should start up. You can keep typing in more names as well -- VLC will open new instances so that you can easily multistream.

If you enter a name or channel ID that has not been added to the launcher, the script will ask you if you want to attempt to connect to that name on Twitch.tv or Afreeca.com. This way you can use the launcher to watch any stream on either platform so long as you know the channel ID.

Lastly, most players have a lot of smurfs. Liquipedia has a list of SCR ladder aliases making it easier to look up who is playing who. If they are playing on the Fish server, the Fish Server entry on Liquipedia has a list as well.

On September 05 2017 17:07 Arvendilin wrote:Is there a way to use this with MPC instead of VLC? since VLC fucks with colour saturation

Streamlink does technically work with MPC, but you'll need to mess with the .bat file a bit. More on that in a bit.

I haven't added native support for MPC because 1) extra work for me, and 2) some command lines are missing. Most notably --file-caching and --network-caching don't work, but you also can't add a meta title to an MPC window. When VLC pops up, it properly titles the window with the name you input, i.e. Bisu, Stork, Flash. MPC can't do that, so the window title remains something generic like "stdin".

Anyway, to use this setup in MPC you need the following:- At least version 1.7 of MPC (1.6 or below will give file not found errors)- Edit the bat file with the following values:

Open the .bat file in notepad++ or notepad. Near the top of the file you'll see this line:

set vlcpath=

...which by default is blank. Type in the path to your MPC player, i.e.

set vlcpath=C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe

Next, scroll down to the bottom of the .bat file and find the following line:

Edit: If there is sufficient interest, I can make it so the .bat file accepts MPC by default as an option when you launch it. Let me know if this is something anyone else wants, otherwise I'm sticking with the basic VLC setup.

On September 06 2017 10:50 Arvendilin wrote:2 small little infos for everyone who wants to use MPC aswell:

Some streams might only get audio not video, to fix that, go to options > Internal filters > Splitters and then increase stream analysis duration, this will give it time to detect every stream it gets send!

The second thing is that ofcourse have to go into multi window mode if you want to watch multiple streams, I know this is easy but I was confused for about 10 secs so I thought I'd let everyone know that that option exists!

Q: It takes a long time between entering a name into the command line and VLC opening.+ Show Spoiler +

Q: I think the .bat file is broken, the colors are all messed up.+ Show Spoiler +

A: If for some reason the .bat file appears messed up on your system (looking something like this as opposed to this), you may be on an outdated operating system. Streamlink requires Windows Vista SP2 or above (the guide has been tested and confirmed working on Windows 7, 8, and 10).

Q: I have messed with CDN and quality options, but the stream is still lagging. Can I fix it?+ Show Spoiler +

A: Possibly. I haven't needed to do this myself, but according to the guide on defiler.ru you can try the following:

Start -> Run "cmd.exe"In the command line interface, type the following:

nslookup chromecast.afreeca.gscdn.com

Copy the IP address response, and add it to your hosts file. (See below for instructions.)

This IP address randomizes every once in a while as Afreeca hosts from different servers. If you experience stream lag, you may want to do a quick nslookup and add the new IP address to the hosts file.

How to add something to your hosts file

Google the path to your hosts file if you need to. On Windows 7/8/10 it is:C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

Right-click your hosts file, and uncheck read-only / write-protect.

Edit the hosts file using notepad or notepad++.

Add the IP address you received from the nslookup command, followed by "chromecast.afreeca.gscdn.com", to the bottom of the hosts file. Example:

121.156.109.165 chromecast.afreeca.gscdn.com

Save the hosts file, and re-enable write-protect / read-only mode. It should look like this:

A: You haven't installed Streamlink properly. The .bat file requires you to install it using the Windows installer, which (among other things) adds Streamlink as a PATH variable so the .bat file can launch it properly.

A: VLC is not installed, or VLC is not installed to the default directory, or you forgot to edit the .bat file to point Streamlink to the proper VLC directory. See the installation instructions again for details.

Q: Error message:

error: The available stream(s) 'aws_hd' could not be found. Available streams: live_hls, live (worst, best)

A: You didn't properly copy and replace the afreeca.py file linked in the OP, meaning you either skipped this step or it failed to overwrite properly. Browsers do not have permission to overwrite files in C:\Program Files, so you have to do it manually.

A: You probably didn't properly copy and replace the afreeca.py file linked in the OP, meaning you either skipped this step or it failed to overwrite properly. Browsers do not have permission to overwrite files in C:\Program Files, so you have to do it manually.

A: Some streamers (Horang2 does this some times) will occasionally set their streams to adults-only (19+) mode. When a stream is in adults-only mode, you have to use the Korean AfreecaTV Player (proprietary software) to view it, or Afreeca will refuse your connection. Either petition Horang2 to stop doing that, or find someone else to watch.

A: Livestreamer is no longer being actively worked on, so any time the API changes or a plugin somehow breaks, there is no immediate fix. Afreeca keeps changing their API every few months to the frustration of everyone, and I finally got tired of updating the hls.py and afreecatv.py files.

Streamlink is the current replacement for Livestreamer. It has additional quality options which are easy to find, options for CDN servers, and is generally updated very frequently. I have created a new .bat file to make use of these options.

RoX.Malki still deserves credit for his original Livestreamer guide which formed the basis for this entire guide. His effort has given us months of watching Afreeca without lag. In that spirit, I'll try to keep things updated as best I can.

After reading your message I tried connecting to Mong's stream using my setup and it worked just fine. I have seen this timeout error a couple of times, but it always cleared up within minutes. I imagine it's Afreeca messing up. The quality of Afreeca's servers to the outside world seem to depend on your location and luck. Keep "refreshing" as it were.

CfgosCuba: Are you on a 32-bit Windows system? You're using the afreeca_x64.bat file which is for 64-bit systems, and by default the .bat files expect VLC to be installed to default locations. The error message you are getting means Livestreamer can't find your VLC media player.

Make sure you have VLC installed. If it is installed, edit the .bat file to point to the installation directory, or download the other .bat file and try that one.

I've used this program for a long time now, but since like a week ago, i've started getting this message and I'm unable to watch anything. Also it's stopped working without any interference from me to the program (why would i do anything when it was working)

On August 23 2016 16:59 letian wrote:I am getting "No streams found on this URL." even though the player is shown online on "https://afreecabw.appspot.com/"

livestreamer --player="/usr/bin/vlc --file-caching=5000 --network-caching=5000 --meta-title=Sea" afreeca.com/yuambo[cli][info] Found matching plugin afreeca for URL afreeca.com/yuamboerror: No streams found on this URL: afreeca.com/yuambo

At first I thought you used the outdated defiler.ru tutorial instead of mine. As I said in the OP, Afreeca changed their domain names around so the old scripts are broken. My updated afreecatv.py file fixes this problem. Download that and replace the afreecatv.py file you nabbed from defiler.ru, or edit it yourself.

I've used this program for a long time now, but since like a week ago, i've started getting this message and I'm unable to watch anything. Also it's stopped working without any interference from me to the program (why would i do anything when it was working)

Any clues? For the past few days, I must watch korhal.info.pl It's not bad, but I'd rather have it live :D

To everyone: Please read the Troubleshooting & FAQ section in the OP if you have any problems!

This problem is mentioned in the FAQ. Did you remove any and all Afreeca IPs from your hosts file? I was getting this very issue when watching streams, and it turns out an old entry in my hosts file was the culprit. Remove that -- if the problem persists we can try something else.

On August 23 2016 23:12 letian wrote:Ok, I figured it out for Linux.1. First uninstall with your package manager any previous versions of livestreamer.For archlinux/manjaro: sudo pacman -Rcn livestreamer

On August 23 2016 16:59 letian wrote:I am getting "No streams found on this URL." even though the player is shown online on "https://afreecabw.appspot.com/"

livestreamer --player="/usr/bin/vlc --file-caching=5000 --network-caching=5000 --meta-title=Sea" afreeca.com/yuambo[cli][info] Found matching plugin afreeca for URL afreeca.com/yuamboerror: No streams found on this URL: afreeca.com/yuambo

At first I thought you used the outdated defiler.ru tutorial instead of mine. As I said in the OP, Afreeca changed their domain names around so the old scripts are broken. My updated afreecatv.py file fixes this problem. Download that and replace the afreecatv.py file you nabbed from defiler.ru, or edit it yourself.

I've used this program for a long time now, but since like a week ago, i've started getting this message and I'm unable to watch anything. Also it's stopped working without any interference from me to the program (why would i do anything when it was working)

Any clues? For the past few days, I must watch korhal.info.pl It's not bad, but I'd rather have it live :D

To everyone: Please read the Troubleshooting & FAQ section in the OP if you have any problems!

This problem is mentioned in the FAQ. Did you remove any and all Afreeca IPs from your hosts file? I was getting this very issue when watching streams, and it turns out an old entry in my hosts file was the culprit. Remove that -- if the problem persists we can try something else.

On August 23 2016 23:12 letian wrote:Ok, I figured it out for Linux.1. First uninstall with your package manager any previous versions of livestreamer.For archlinux/manjaro: sudo pacman -Rcn livestreamer

Now you can use afreeca.sh to play streams!Use !online command to get currently available streamers, use exit to quit afreeca.sh.

Oh this is lovely. I'll add this to the OP if you don't mind. =)

Yes, please.Basically all I added is afreeca.sh with ability to scan for online streamers and a livestreamer fork with your modifications included.Run afreeca.sh as "./afreeca.sh". You will be prompted to set the player's name. You can type "!online" to retrieve a list of online users. Type "exit" to quit the program.